What I get from the article is the cals. have to be adjusted properly before and when installing the pads, then used daily to stay adjusted. It is sort of like the old drum system, adjusted by braking in reverse, but these adjust slop between pad and rotor when used.

To tell you the truth, the Chevie ones are looking real good....

 

Side note/question on this as you have a setup that seems really similar to what I am putting in mine. Looks like I will be adding the swage-lock now as well seeing as people I have talked to about the El Dorado calipers all say they are more pain than they are worth and they don't work worth a darn.

Is it safe to assume you dumped the factory proportioning valve and just run the Wilwood adjustable one? I have the Wilwood valve sitting here for when I start doing my brake system.

 

people I have talked to about the El Dorado calipers all say they are more pain than they are worth and they don't work worth a darn.

Go to ClassicBroncos.com and read in the Tech section the article about how to rebuild those calipers. It clarified a lot for me. 'You have to use the ebrake daily.' That is how they adjust. If you don't, then the ebrake function stops working. It was quite an eye opener for me to read how to set up those calipers.

The guys at TSM swear by the caddy calipers, if they are set up properly, and ebrake is used daily. Otherwise, nope, they're not worth the trouble.

 

My truck will NOT be used daily (have too many cars so I switch around a bit) and therefore Idon't feel like messing with the stupid, POS El Dorado ones...

As I said - I've had a couple buddies who had had them and they are worthless.

 

Maybe so. But from the research I have done, I am reminded of the Quadrajet carbs. So many people toss them out, calling them 'Quadrajunk', and replace with Holley. But the people who study them and take the time to dial them in, and understand them, find a great carb.

The mechanics who have actually taken the caddy calipers apart, and learned them, have used them for many years w/o problems. Those who don't call them junk and carry blocks of wood with them.

Having said all that, do I want to spend a day or two studying the workings of a caliper? When I can bolt on a chebby one for a fraction of the cost? Probably not.

 

Please share, as I have been collecting parts for this project for over a year, including a pair of caddy calipers. I took one look at the arm, spring setup and decided I would rather have no ebrake then that mess.

 

The ideal setup would be like the early Fj40 land cruisers that had the backing plate of the e-brake mounted to the rear of the transfer case and the drum to drive shaft yoke. It was a small drum brake with a single short cable. This worked great, eliminated the cables hanging down by the axles that can snag brush when off roading.

 

I live in hill country and you just about need to have an e-brake for safety especially for off-road.

I like the simplicity of a hydraulic lock but all hydraulics will leak or fail at some point in their life and usually fail without warning. I just makes sense for safety to have some kind of mechanical brake for hills.
If you live, work and off-road on flat land you could probably get by with a hydraulic lock but for the rest of us it becomes a potential safety problem.

 

What about drive line brakes. Anybody using one as an e-brake?

 

Very true, but take into consideration that a lot of heavy equipment use hydraulic parking brakes, a Deere 762B scraper for instance has a disk brake parking brake that is applied using hydraulic pressure.

The idea for using the ball valve in-line with the rear brakes is a good one, but I wouldn't use it, nor expect to rely on it to hold a truck for days or weeks. But to hold a truck in neutral to adjust the idle, hook up a trailer it is a great idea.

I have Mustang SVO rear calipers installed on my truck. The same ones that were installed in Lincoln Mark VII's and others. The integrated e-brake is total junk. They probably worked twice and never worked again.

So what's better? The OEM idea of integrated e-brake that doesn't work and is well documented to not work well, or the high pressure ball valve that will get used occasionally?

Josh

Josh

 

Interesting discussion. Since I plan to switch to a ZF manual soon, this is all relevant. The ball valve sounds a good choice, but what concerns me is you never know if/when it will fail. You pop in for a pack of smokes at the 7/11, and come out and find your truck has just killed a bunch of nuns in the intersection. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

TSM swears by the caddy cals, but they're trying to sell me something, so I have to be wary. When I dealt with Pony Carbs, I thought their $500 Autolite 4100 would give me lap dances, but I ended up selling it within a couple of weeks.

I just walked 3 boneyards and found one of the caddy cals. I'm going to take it apart and figure out how the ratcheting ebrake lever works. For $20, I just want to dissect the damn thing.

If I understand it, maybe I can make it reliable. If I can't, I'll toss the stinking thing and go with the Chebby. I just got ta know.

 

The same scenario for the ball valve can apply to e-brake drum brakes, integrated disk brakes etc.

No free lunch in life.

Josh

 

What I want to say is this: I'll bet anyone here that 99% of the guys who install the Caddy ebrake cals. bought them rebuilt. And I'll bet that 99% of those installed cals. were not entirely disassembled during the rebuild. In those factories, they prob. replace the dust seal, and the copper washers, and leave the clutch ebrake assembly.

And I'll bet that 99% of the guys who say their ebrake don't work, never took the rotors apart and tried to clean and understand them.

There is a great article on classicbroncos.com, tech section that shows everything, how they fail, and how to fix them.

 

I wanted to post this info. for anyone who might be searching for the ebrake calipers from a 76-78 caddy el dorado:

After searching through 3 junkyards, for the caddy el dorado with the chrome bumper that goes up over the tail lights, which is the dorado of the correct period, I found the same calipers on the smaller Seville!! So I checked one of the online parts stores, and they show the same part# for Devilles, el dorados, sevilles, and fleetwoods.

That should increase your chances of finding them. And by the way, the rebuild kits are only $6.00! So, with a salvaged caliper, you can get by with about $26 invested per side, minus pads. That beats the heck out of $62 (w/o pads) and $37 core charge when buying rebuilts from an auto parts. (And, by the way, when buying rebuilts and paying the core, you don't get the springs or brackets for the ebrake!!)

 

The stock proportioning valve is for a rear drum setup. I'm pretty sure as I recall they are made to allow 3-5 psi kind a thing to the rear brake lines as it holds a tiny bit of pressure to pads as it takes more movement to engage brakes over discs. I tried no prop valve and rears locked up. Your best to plumb in your wilwood.

As for the valve failing.... Always keep your truck in gear or park either way. If the valve did fail as for a standard your truck will still hold somwhat until it creeps back in small increments as the compression on motor is the only thing holding it back but at the same time that takes alot of hold back pressure on valve as well.
Never use it on a hill left in nuetral unattended for a long period!